Planting trees and watering flowers - Elena Shahidinejad had this idea of her future job before she began her apprenticeship as a landscape gardener.
But gardening and landscaping is much more than that: laying drainage pipes, paving paths, building walls and terraces - all of this is just as much part of the job as caring for plants.
Landscape gardeners are more likely to work on a construction site than just in a garden.
According to the long-term study "Good Work Project" by Harvard professor Howard Gardner, gardeners, along with florists, are the happiest in their job - despite the heavy physical work and the rather average pay.
Shahidinejad can confirm Gardner's result: "I think it's wonderful to be in nature."
As a child, I enjoyed being in nature
Shahidinejad says that even as a child she liked climbing trees or having her father explain plants to her when she went for a walk.
At home in the nursery she preferred to do handicrafts and draw.
The 25-year-old can now live out her passions professionally.
After successfully completing her training two years ago, she is now studying landscape architecture in Geisenheim and also works in tree care.
That means that she climbs up trees - secured on a rope or with the help of a lifting platform - to saw off branches and keep the tree healthy.
How does she motivate herself to work outside even in the cold and rain?
How does climate change affect your work?
Does she also garden privately?
And does she know the names of all native plants?
We spoke to Elena Shahidinejad about these and other questions.
